Thief (Blood & Bone Enforcers MC)

“No. I beefed up my security more. I thought it was good enough, but these guys are good. I just went up to government level security.”

He glanced at her, an eyebrow raised. “You can do that?”

The look she gave him was a mix of worried, distracted, and amused. “Some of the tech company’s contracts I work on are for the government. Lower level stuff, but still, higher than the average hacker’s level.”

“Lily, if trying to find more information on buyers puts you or Noah in danger, you don’t have to keep doing this. We can find another way.”

Her voice was challenging when she spoke. “How?” Silence filled the truck and she nodded. “That’s what I thought. Besides, they know my laptop ID now. They can follow it no matter what I do. But, now that I know they’re watching it, I can trace it back to them. And we’ll know where they are, so they don’t take us by surprise, or manage to track us to the clubhouse.”

“You can do that?” Blake asked, surprised.

Noah felt pride fill him even as he arched an eyebrow at her. “Or we can just throw your laptop out the window and speed away. They can’t follow us then.”

“Do you know how much this thing cost? Besides, I’d have to wipe the hard drive, or they could still find out who I am. I’d have to do a government wipe, at that, to get all traces off, and that takes time. Time we might not have, since we don’t know where they are. Plus, if they find the laptop on the side of the road, they’ll know we’re onto them, and alert everyone else. Right now, it’s just two of them, if the intel is right.”

“She’s right,” Noah said, his mind racing as fast as the truck as his eyes continued to dart between the road and the rearview mirror.

Blake gave a hum of agreement. “What are you thinking?”

“That Lily finds them and figures out how far away they are. They’ve probably been going faster than us, to catch up, so they might be close. I’m going to find a deserted side road and hide from view, luring them down it to privacy. Then I’ll do what I do best.”

“Sounds good. Keep me posted.”

Blake hung up and Lily reached over, placing her hand on his thigh. “Are you sure that’s best? Can you take two of them on at once?”

He covered her hand with his. “I was born to do this, Lily. I was a Marine, and I’ve been an Enforcer for three years. I’ve got this. We’ll have the element of surprise, and if you can pinpoint their location, we’ll know exactly when they’re coming. Can you do it without them knowing you’re doing it?”

Nodding with a look of determination on her face, she withdrew her hand and started typing. “I’ll be like a ghost. I’ll do my part. Just make sure you do yours without getting hurt.”

“I promise

.”

Keeping his speed up and praying the highway stayed deserted—with no cops—he continued looking for any hint of a vehicle. Lily typed furiously, muttering a few curses as she worked. About five minutes later, she made a noise of triumph.

“Got them! They’re thirty-five minutes behind us. Speeds are holding steady, but if they’re watching ours, then they know we’ve sped up. We need to find a spot to pull off or they might suspect something.”

Nodding, he began scanning, occasionally adding a look at the GPS, trying to find a side road that was well hidden from the highway. “Good work, baby.”

“Baby?” she said with a laugh, still watching her screen. “I haven’t really had a nickname before. And thanks. Their security was pretty good—but I was better.”

He chuckled. “That you were.” He was quiet for a moment, debating whether or not to say anything about the nickname. But it wasn’t like they could avoid the topic of Brandon, and besides, she didn’t seem to mind talking about him with Noah. “Didn’t Brandon call you flower?”

She glanced over at him, a soft smile on her face. “Yeah. Yeah, he did. His lily flower. But it wasn’t exactly original.”

He laughed. “Baby isn’t all that original, either.”

“No, it’s not. Better put some more thought into your nickname for me, then.”

Nodding, he was about to reply when he spotted a dirt road that he thought could work well. Slowing, he pulled onto it, smiling with satisfaction as he saw the bend in the road ahead that would hide the truck perfectly.

Maneuvering until they were pulled off to the side, facing the road and partially hidden by the trees, he glanced over at her. “How close are they?”

“Twenty minutes now, and gaining speed. I’m pretty sure they think we’ve made a stop and they’re about to catch us. If they thought we knew, they wouldn’t be barreling straight toward us so quickly.”

“Keep watching until they’re turning on the road. Then I want you to get out of sight. Duck down onto the floorboard or something. I don’t want them to catch sight of you and come after you.”

She frowned, looking like she wanted to protest, but in the end, she nodded. “Okay. I wish I could help more, though.”